Surgical procedures often involve accessing surgical sites within the patient's body. The deeper the surgical site within the body, the more difficult it is to access and visualize the surgical site. In an open surgical procedure, a large incision is made and the tissues surrounding the site are pressed or pulled out of the way with one or more retractors to facilitate access. However, open procedures are very disruptive of the tissues surrounding the site and require extended recovery periods. It is increasingly common to perform surgery through minimally invasive approaches utilizing small incisions. What is needed is a retractor that can be deployed in a small incision to create and maintain a path to the surgical site with minimal disruption of surrounding tissues.